‘Mercury may be present in Kodaikanal forest soil for centuries’

Two decades after Kodaikanal locals discovered mishandling of mercury by a global conglomerate, levels of the toxic metal are still vastly higher than normal in the hill station’s soil, says Ameer Shahul, former journalist and author of Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal.

Two decades after Kodaikanal locals discovered mishandling of mercury by a global conglomerate, levels of the toxic metal are still vastly higher than normal in the hill station’s soil, says Ameer Shahul, former journalist and author of Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal.

In the book, Mr. Shahul traces how an American thermometer factory was taken over by Hindustan-Unilever in Kodaikanal in 1983, the efforts that led to the factory’s closure, as well as the legal travails and health implications for the locals and factory workers. The book was formally launched by Erik Solheim, former Executive Director of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and former Norway Environment Minister, in Chennai on Saturday. 

Over the years, it was found that many people had lost their lives due to severe health complications as Hindustan-Unilever unit carelessly discarded mercury-laden scrap to local dealers, Mr. Solheim rued.

Drawing parallels with the mercury poisoning disaster in Minamata, Japan, which came to light in the 1950s, Mr. Solheim said, “When a tragedy such as this happens, the most important thing we can do is to make certain it does not happen again.” In 2017, when Mr. Solheim headed the UNEP, a historic agreement called the ‘Minamata Convention of Mercury’ was signed by over 160 countries, including India. 

Mr. Shahul said while a drop in wildlife activity in prominent sites such as Tiger Shola and Bear Shola was indicative of the environmental effects of mercury sediments, there had been a lack of Kodaikanal-specific research on the subject, making it difficult to quantify the environmental repercussions. “We didn’t have a clear picture”, he said while adding that “traces of Mercury are likely to reside in Kodaikanal forest soil for decades or centuries”.

The Tamil translation of the book will be available in the next two months, he said.